


Setting the Stage

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Strategy & Tactics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:29:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22213057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Jorj has a mission, layered, as all of Thrawn's plans tend to be.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Setting the Stage

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Price of a Cure](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8565640) by [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly). 

> Prompt: The Sound of Footsteps

Jorj froze in place, willing his breathing to be shallow, his heart not to race so. He could do this. It wasn't the first tight spot he'd been in after all.

After a moment, the sound of footsteps cleared and he was able to slip out of the narrow crevice. The gravel underfoot was a challenge, and he had never been that good at stealth; he normally tackled things head on.

Still, he was in sight of what he wanted to reach. He could just stay focused, and —

"Looking for me, Car'das?"

Sith spit.

"Not in particular, Karrde, but here we are." 

When had the younger man gotten that good?

At least he knew his old organization really was in competent hands.

"I'd heard you beat it," Karrde said, after gesturing for Jorj to walk with him. Those two vornskrs were conspicuously absent, but Jorj thought it might be a bit like Thrawn's Noghri… back before they'd rebelled. Rarely seen, but always present.

"You think I'm a clone," Jorj said, cutting through the bantha crap. "No; a clone was harvested to put me back to my health, though. Now you know the secret."

"You never give a secret without exacting payment." 

Jorj inclined his head a bit, but didn't answer until they were inside the office… quite near to just where he needed to be.

"We can posture at each other, or we can actually negotiate what I came here for in good faith," Jorj said bluntly. "I have one significant fact to sell for what I want."

"And if I already have that fact?"

Jorj smiled, cold and hard, at his former lieutenant. "You don't. I know that."

Karrde laughed, and his smile was far more genuine. "I trust your faith in that. You rarely missed a move, after all."

Jorj did relax then; he knew all too well from what he had studied that Karrde ran a lot closer to the New Republic than he felt comfortable doing, not least of which — 

Well. He had reasons.

"Tell me what you came here for?" Karrde invited.

"You still have a very old power converter, Naboo model, that was installed in a portable shield generator. I want it back."

Karrde folded his hands in front of him, considering. Jorj knew the man's memory let Karrde know just which piece of equipment was being sought, that it was an old, nearly worthless relic. It would be nothing to give it over, and yet… why that piece — yes, Jorj could see the thoughts behind the veil of Karrde's pleasant contemplation.

"What will you pay?"

Jorj hesitated, just a beat, then looked his successor in the eyes. "The Empire has a leader. A strong one. The withdrawal to Bastion is merely a gathering of forces. And this time, the New Republic doesn't have an inside edge."

That marched alongside the suspicions Karrde would have had, but would he press?

Maybe Karrde didn't need to, as his eyes flicked over Jorj, taking in the same details that he himself would have looked for, measured, and evaluated.

"I'll have it brought to you, and see you back to where you landed."

Jorj smiled at the last, an honest expression. Of course Karrde would want to know where the breach happened, and try to see the course that had kept him out of sight.

* * *

Thrawn was there to meet him in the officer's landing bay.

"I presume it went to plan?"

Jorj snorted and hauled the converter along beside them, going toward their quarters on the ship. "He didn't ask. I'd mentioned the clone. He knows."

"As I had access, and for you to have a full array of resources so quickly, it had to have been my aid you had acquired. The man is astute."

Jorj nodded. "Now, do I get filled in on the next steps and why we needed this?"

"Patience, my friend."

**Author's Note:**

> A few weeks back, I stumbled over a Thrawn-Survives AU idea. This, riffing off my own earlier work, seems to be leaning in that direction, where the YV war goes differently.


End file.
